This wealthy madwoman, jilted on her wedding day, lives as a recluse in her creepy mansion, still dressed in the tatters of her wedding dress. Although she originally means to make young Pip, protagonist of "Great Expectations" suffer at the hands of her beautiful ward, Estella, Miss Havisham is filled with remorse when Estella finally does break Pip's heart, just as her scoundrel of a fiance once broke hers. Dickens' creation of Miss Havisham was said to have been based on a true story from Australia of a jilted bride who spent the rest of her life near her rotting wedding cake, waiting for her groom to return. More recently, the lead characters of both "Sunset Boulevard" and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" are said to have been inspired by Dickens' Miss Havisham.
